1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a packaging apparatus for rolled products and a package for a rolled product, and more particularly to a packaging apparatus for packaging, with a light shielding sheet, a belt-shaped sensitized material rolled product such as photographic printing paper and photographic film or the like which have been wound in a roll shape, and a package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-112337 discloses a package of a rolled product capable of opening a sealed package by drawing out a leading end of a light shielding sheet with which the circumferential surface of a belt-shaped sensitized material rolled product has been packaged.
In this package, as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, a roll product 1 of photosensitive material or the like is wound around a cylindrical core 2 having the substantially same width as the roll product 1; and to a leading end 1A of the roll product 1, one end 3A of circumferential surface wrapping material 3 having the same width as or slightly larger width than the roll product 1 is joined such that edge portions 1B of the roll product 1 substantially coincide with edge portions 3B of the circumferential surface wrapping material 3. On the inner sides of both side edges of the circumferential surface wrapping material 3, end surface wrapping materials 4 are superimposed and heat bonded. Thus, border lines C of the heat bonded portion between the circumferential surface wrapping material 3 and the end surface wrapping materials 4 substantially coincide with the side edges 1B of the roll product 1, and serve as reinforcement portions when opening.
The circumferential surface wrapping material 3 is wound around the roll product 1, and its leading end 1C is bonded to the roll product 1 with a terminal tape 5. Also, cylindrical portions of the end surface wrapping material 4 protruding from the end surfaces of the roll product 1 are gather-folded along the end surfaces of the roll product 1 by a gather-folding apparatus (not shown), and inner side portions 6 of the gather-folded portions are fit into the core 2 with bushings 7 by pressing the bushings 7 into the core 2. Thus, the light shielding property and the moisture resistance of the roll product 1 are retained.
As the gather-folding apparatus, there have conventionally been proposed various apparatuses, and of those, apparatuses which have been disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-3212 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-1202 have a plurality of folding members which move from the outside of the cylindrical portions toward the roll central axis. These folding members are moved in the above-described direction to fold the cylindrical portions inside, whereby pleats of the wrapping material are formed between the folding members, and these pleats are folded onto the roll end surfaces to thereby gather-fold the cylindrical portions.
Since, however, the above-described conventional gather-folding apparatuses are constructed to forms the pleats only through the use of the folding member, there is the problem that the fold angle becomes non-uniform resulting from the stiffness, habit and the like of the wrapping material so that ridges of crest folded portions of the pleats do not have any equal length. Although a package of sensitized material is caused to retain the light shielding property and the moisture resistance by fitting the inner side portions of the gather-folded portions into the core with the bushings, and when the length of the ridges of the crest folded portions is non-uniform as described above, there may be pleats which cannot be fitted, that is, there may exist pleats of which the length of the ridges is short, and therefore, there is the drawback that the light shielding property and the moisture resistance are impaired.
Hence, as a gather-folding apparatus which prevents such a drawback, there is a gather-folding apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-58966. This gather-folding apparatus comprises: a plurality of pressing plates which move toward the roll central axis on the outside of the cylindrical portions of a light shielding sheet protruding outwardly from the end surfaces of the roll; a plurality of pleat formation rods which support the cylindrical portions from the inside toward the outside; and a moving mechanism which synchronizes these pleat formation rods to the movement of the pressing plates to move in the direction of the roll central axis. According to this gather-folding apparatus, when folding out the cylindrical portions inwardly by the movement of the pressing plates, the cylindrical portions are supported from inside by the plurality of pleat formation rods. Thus, there can be formed angle pleated portions comprising trough folded portions folded inwardly by the pressing plates and crest folded portions stretched outwardly by the pleat formation rods.
Also, a gather-folding apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-88572 comprises: a plurality of moving pieces which move toward the roll central axis on the outer side of the cylindrical portions of the light shielding sheet protruding outwardly from the roll end surfaces; a plurality of support spokes which support the cylindrical portion from the inner side toward the outside; and an opening/closing mechanism for opening/closing the support spokes like an umbrella. According to this gather-folding apparatus, when folding out the cylindrical portion inside by the movement of the moving pieces, the cylindrical portions are supported from inside by means of the support spokes which have been opened like an umbrella. Thus, there can be formed angle pleated portions comprising trough folded portions folded inwardly by the moving pieces and crest folded portions stretched outwardly by the support spokes.
Since, however, the gather-folding apparatuses disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 62-58966 and 6-88572 are constructed such that the inner surface of the cylindrical portions are supported by the pleat formation rods or the support spokes in point-contact, in the case of soft wrapping material, there is a drawback that the angle pleated portions cannot be formed with stability because the wrapping material is broken or is turned up.
Since the light shielding sheet for wrapping a sensitized material roll product is a wrapping material having the light shielding property and the moisture resistance, it is expensive. Therefore, the roll product is preferably packaged at a minimum surface area.
However, in order to provide the roll product with the light shielding property and the moisture resistance, the portions to be fitted into the core with the bushings are required for the light shielding sheet as described above. For this reason, in the conventional package, emphasis has been placed on the light shielding property and the moisture resistance, and concerning the provision of the light shielding property and the moisture resistance by making the area of the light shielding sheet as small as possible, no contrivance has been performed.
Also, in the conventional package of a roll product, since the trough portions of the gather-folded angle pleated portion are directed toward the roll center and the ridges of the crest portions are not directed toward the roll center, the length of the light shielding sheet has been uselessly long.